22“If a man commits an offense against his fellow, and an oath is exacted from him, causing him to utter an imprecation against himself, and he comes with his imprecation before Your altar in this House, 23may You hear in heaven and take action to judge Your servants, requiting him who is in the wrong by bringing down the punishment of his conduct on his head, vindicating him who is in the right by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
24“Should Your people Israel be defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against You, and then once again acknowledge Your name and offer prayer and supplication to You in this House, 25may You hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and restore them to the land that You gave to them and to their fathers.
26“Should the heavens be shut up and there be no rain because they have sinned against You, and then they pray toward this place and acknowledge Your name and repent of their sins, because You humbled them, 27may You hear in heaven and pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, when You have shown them the proper way in which they are to walk, and send down rain upon the land that You gave to Your people as their heritage. 28So, too, if there is a famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars, or if an enemy oppresses them in any of the settlements of their land.
“In any plague and in any disease, 29any prayer or supplication offered by any person among all Your people Israel—each of whom knows his affliction and his pain—when he spreads forth his hands toward this House, 30may You hear in Your heavenly abode, and pardon. Deal with each man according to his ways as You know his heart to be—for You alone know the hearts of all men—31so that they may revere You all the days that they live on the land that You gave to our fathers.
32“Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your great name, Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm, if he comes to pray toward this House, 33may You hear in Your heavenly abode and grant whatever the foreigner appeals to You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.
34“When Your people take the field against their enemies in a campaign on which You send them, and they pray to You in the direction of the city which You have chosen and the House which I have built to Your name, 35may You hear in heaven their prayer and supplication and uphold their cause.
36“When they sin against You—for there is no person who does not sin—and You are angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and their captors carry them off to an enemy land, near or far; 37and they take it to heart in the land to which they have been carried off, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have acted perversely, we have acted wickedly,’ 38and they turn back to You with all their heart and soul, in the land of their captivity where they were carried off, and pray in the direction of their land which You gave to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the House which I have built for Your name—39may You hear their prayer and supplication in Your heavenly abode, uphold their cause, and pardon Your people who have sinned against You. 40Now My God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to prayer from this place, and now,
41Advance, O LORD God, to your resting-place,
You and Your mighty Ark.
Your priests, O LORD God, are clothed in triumph;
Your loyal ones will rejoice in [Your] goodness.
42O LORD God,
do not reject Your anointed one;
remember the loyalty of Your servant David.”
7 aWhen Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the House. 2The priests could not enter the House of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD filled the House of the LORD. 3All the Israelites witnessed the descent of the fire and the glory of the LORD on the House; they knelt with their faces to the ground and prostrated themselves, praising the LORD, “For He is good, for His steadfast love is eternal.”
4Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5King Solomon offered as sacrifices 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep; thus the king and all the people dedicated the House of God. 6The priests stood at their watches; the Levites with the instruments for the LORD’s music that King David had made to praise the LORD, “For His steadfast love is eternal,” by means of the psalms of David that they knew. The priests opposite them blew trumpets while all Israel were standing.
7Solomon consecrated the center of the court in front of the House of the LORD, because he presented there the burnt offerings and the fat parts of the offerings of well-being, since the bronze altar that Solomon had made was not able to hold the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the fat parts. 8At that time Solomon kept the Feast for seven days—all Israel with him—a great assemblage from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.
9On the eighth day they held a solemn gathering; they observed the dedication of the altar seven days, and the Feast seven days. 10On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their homes, rejoicing and in good spirits over the goodness that the LORD had shown to David and Solomon and His people Israel.
11Thus Solomon finished building the House of the LORD and the royal palace; Solomon succeeded in everything he had set his heart on accomplishing with regard to the House of the LORD and his palace. 12The LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this site as My House of sacrifice. 13If I shut up the heavens and there is no rain; if I command the locusts to ravage the land; or if I let loose pestilence against My people, 14when My people, who bear My name, humble themselves, pray, and seek My favor and turn from their evil ways, I will hear in My heavenly abode and forgive their sins and heal their land. 15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers from this place. 16And now I have chosen and consecrated this House that My name be there forever. My eyes and My heart shall always be there. 17As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked before Me, doing all that I have commanded you, keeping My laws and rules, 18then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, in accordance with the Covenant I made with your father David, saying, ‘You shall never lack a descendant ruling over Israel.’ 19But if you turn away from Me and forsake My laws and commandments that I set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20then I will uproot themb from My land that I gave them, and this House that I consecrated to My name I shall cast out of my sight, and make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21And as for this House, once so exalted, everyone passing by it shall be appalled and say, ‘Why did the LORD do thus to this land and to this House?’ 22And the reply will be, ‘It is because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers who freed them from the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He brought all this calamity upon them.’ ”
8 aAt the end of twenty years, during which Solomon constructed the House of the LORD and his palace—2Solomon also rebuilt the cities that Huram had given to him,b and settled Israelites in them—3Solomon marched against Hamath-zobah and overpowered it. 4He built Tadmor in the desert and all the garrison towns that he built in Hamath. 5He built Upper Bethhoron and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, 6as well as Baalath and all of Solomon’s garrison towns, chariot towns, and cavalry towns—everything that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in the Lebanon, and throughout the territory that he ruled. 7All the people that were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, none of whom were of Israelite stock—8those of their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not annihilated—these Solomon subjected to forced labor, as is still the case. 9But the Israelites, none of whom Solomon enslaved for his works, served as soldiers and as his chief officers, and as commanders of his chariotry and cavalry. 10These were King Solomon’s prefects—250 foremen over the people. 11Solomon brought up Pharaoh’s daughter from the City of David to the palace that he had
